creating with blocks

The kids built a house for their McDonald beanies. Now that the house is mostly finished, they say they can START playing. And I thought the builidng was playing. :)

This is the main house. The paper is pretend TV.

This is the swimming pool.

J was feeding the animals this morning and letting the penguin drink her milk from her bowl. Kids are so funny.

J's belated birthday photos

I had migraine the day of J's birthday party so I took no pictures. Thanks auntie T for taking lots of pictures and for sending them!










J's party menu. This is her first time planning her own party. She made her own invites and send them out. Then she planned her own menu. These are all her favorite food and food she is able to make her self. Few came from a cook book, like the pigs in the poke and homemade lemonade. She made all the preparation and did all the cooking and baking. My goal is she can plan her own party (J loves going to and having her own party) and prepare the food as I'm not a party fan.

But lately, I have been thinking that having a party is much quicker than meeting friends one on one or even in small groups as I have many different groups of friends. One thing I learned though is I'll have to make more American food out of those party magazine (much easier and more fun for me) verses the traditional Chinese food.










This our easy barbie cake. We used beeswax for the top part and put store bought icing for the dress on the cake. This was much more at my/our level. J picked and did the rest of the decoration. This is a cake she can make herself.
















That's auntie T who loves her lots.







The food.








with J and S.

J was so happy with her presents. Everyone must have asked her what she really wanted and it was - Pet Shop. This is what she wanted last year for her birthday too. Hmmm...not much change or haven't had enough. Now she got a load of Pet Shop stuff. While the boys were playing, J disappeared for a good half hour holed up in her room to savor her newest toy. Even now, she still plays with it quite a bit.




Had to post a picture of I. She is so darn cute. Btw, this is what all the kids love to do, climb up the slide or jump off the slide. :)

Miss J- Chinese language teacher

Today, J says she really likes learning Chinese. It came so out of the blue that I didn't totally understand what she meant. Then this afternoon, she was teaching Prime lessons from her old book and I suddenly understand what she meant this morning.

Now she knows if she knows something, she can teach it and that in itself is good gauge of her own level of mastery. She came over, super excited and tells me Prime knows his stuff. Then Prime demonstrate to me what he learned with J cheering him on the side happily. This also motivated her to keep on learning Chinese herself so she will always have something to be able to teach Prime.

We use both an immersion and a formal approach to learning Chinese. The immersion is for common every day conversation . The first goal is for the children to understand mandarin Chinese and then to being able to carry a simple conversation with other people who speak Chinese.

The formal (dialogue) approach targets on the reading, ping-ying (similar to phonics- tells you how to pronounce the Chinese character precisely), and recognition of the Chinese character simultaneously. This gives them the ability to be able learn Chinese by themselves like J currently is able to- to a certain degree. The dialogue in the text also gives me more ideas of what to work with them esp. certain sentence structures not common in my every day conversation with them. For now, we only work on this about 5-10 minutes every day.

We also allow them to watch Chinese TV whenever they want (limited to 1 episode per day) but they don't always choose that actually. Lately, they are more likely to chose watching Discovery channel. The goal of watching Chinese TV is so that they are familiar with how other people speak Chinese and not always just hearing mommy speak Chinese. This also give them some vocabulary that I don't use nor found in the textbooks.

surreal encounter with the inflatable monster

We went to a church function on the invite of of one of our friend and incidentally, the wind must have picked up or what have you and the water inflatable toppled over and came crashing down on me. That feeling of no way to escape, I still remember vividly.

It's the one in the back. You can only see a glimpse of it in the first picture. I don't even remember what exactly it looks like just that it was super heavy and I just feel crushed underneath like a piece of pancake. I still feel it. I honestly thought I was just going to be crushed and maybe die as it was so huge.

As a result of that, I have a leg/ankle injury and have been pretty much confined to the bed/sofa. I'd have never thought a little injury can makes every little movement a challenge. I have been using a wheeling chair and trying to wheel myself from one point to another. I'm really feeling for the people who have to use a wheel chair all the time.

I have really been doing a lot of chilling out and just letting everything slow down. We have been trying to make the best of situation. Luckily, J and Prime are still reading, learning, and carrying their normal life, minus any outing. J is becoming an expert at writing get well cards.

I have now learned to use Motrin (or ibuprofen) for the swelling and that it's not just for the pain. All the medical professionals at the church keep mentioning Motrin but no one mentioned why until I saw my own doctor. I'm just thankful my other leg/ankle is fully functioning. :) I have really been putting it to use with all the hopping I do and even with the clutches I now have.

scenes from the children's garden

'dragon carrots' - it's orange inside, just like a normal carrot. We saved it for our pet hamster, and he love it. It was fascinating to see him nibble.

No idea what this is, but apparently the bees were loving it. I even touched a bee very lightly. They were concentrating and working hard.


J pulling out a zucchini with a staff's help- the leaves are very prickly; J loved eating Napa leaves- she ate a whole big piece. Fluffy loved it too. He stuffed it all inside his pouch. It was really neat to watch.

Purple basil. Smells just as good as regular basil.

enjoying some beautiful flowers.


sharing our day with friends.


Close look at sunflower. Now we experienced first hand what Mortimer's First garden by Karma Wilson (the kids really like this book) shared with us in the book -the miracle of how one seeds turns into hundreds of seeds. We like to eat sunflower seeds in our house, esp. the this specific kind that is roasted and salted - coconut flavor.

Learning from Andrew Pudewa at CC practicum

I watched Andrew Pudewa from IEW (institute for writing excellence) teach a teacher training at the CC practicum today. It was fabulous!!! It helps he is so funny too. :) Here is an insightful article Pudewa wrote about why good readers do not automatically become good writers. You can read it here.

Few points that I really loved:

1. Dare to be messy. (expect couple drafts when writing)

2. Modeling is critical for children ( ex. in key word writing, if the child is not picking out the important key words, model to read the sentence again time but put emphasis on the key words so they pick out the key words)

3. Correct 1 mistake at a time (ex: when a child is writing, put the focus on writing, and not correct his handwriting, spelling etc) I really have to take this to heart as I tend to be very critical of my children.

4. It is a lot easier to add on to something than to come up with complete original ideas.

The kids really liked their time at CC as well. J says on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest, she give it a 20 for wanting to attend CC in the fall. And my little Prime, before he went, when asked if he would like to take the class, he said no. By lunch break today, he says "probably" and when it was time to go, he says, "sure" to joining CC. So I think we will give it a try in the fall.

One of the things Prime's class made was salt art in a baby jar. From what Prime tells me, you just color the salt in the pan using food coloring and scoop different colored salt to make the different layers.

J tells me her class used play dough to make the Africa continent. She also sang a song with all the continents. But I think she is also very happy she found a friend who's 7 1/2 who just loves her. As luck have it, J's new friend have a younger brother who is 5 but going on 6. It's just perfect.

I'm looking forward to learning more tomorrow at CC. One of the best books I ever read was written by Leigh Bortin, founder of CC called Echoes in Celebration: A Call to Home Centered education. You can read it for free here.

Fluffy is on the loose (and is now found)

All staff will now be on heightened alert: Houston, we have a hamster named Fluffy on the loose!

Here is more of the story:
I was checking on our pet hamster Fluffy this morning and accidentally forgot to close the cage door. The kids say they see Fluffy's foot prints on the carpet by where his cage is and outside on the deck. The way they described it was very convincing but when I looked at myself, I sure couldn't see any myself. LOL! I'm sure Fluffy only left his footprints for the kids to see him.

J says Fluffy doesn't listen sometimes but most of the time, he is really good. She goes on to tell me, she always tell Fluffy who is who when people come visit so he can be nice to our visitors.

The kids are trying to follow his footprints to find him. They set up "traps" with their play kitchen basket and bowl for Fluffy up stairs and is hatching a plan to find Fluffy. They along with another friend of theirs are kids on a mission.

I just hope I don't find a dead hamster in the house, sometime down the road. Prime is happy he will have one less chore if Fluffy can't be found. Stay tuned...

We found Fluffy tonight. He was hungry and thirsty. We left the cage door open to him and when we came back, daddy saw him behind the door. He is now happily back in the cage... home sweet home.

shadow puppet of THE WATER WITCH

The Water Witch (from Enki education)

Wind, wind blow again,
Roll the wild waters in,
Waves that wash the sandy shore,
Please bring the wonderous fish once more.

For creative digestion, we tried our hand at shadow puppet. J made the puppets with paper and glued on Popsicle stick. Prime and her are holding the shadow puppet in the back as I say the verse. Then we switched roles. As with anything that they can actively participate in, the kids are in.

Prime came up with the idea of bending the fish at the tail so it can move and that actually worked well.

We used tracing paper to cover one side of a big box. J and I measure the length and the width of the box (she didn't know at first know what length/width was) and calculated how many pieces of tracing paper was needed. Their shadow puppet is very similar to what they drew in their good books.

"mommy time"- focusing on Enki guides

Just checking in-

I have been doing some intensive "Enki Homeschool teaching guide" reading. I find it very nourishing. It is like a good friend, who is helping me along. This is my 2nd time reading, but in many ways I feel I'm rediscovering the core of Enki.

I really needed this time to just focus. I read, I sleep, and I read some more letting my body be the guide as I have been feeling just physically very tired.

The kids are having a ball playing with themselves but they come in often for some mommy hugs. I'm amazed how well they entertain themselves. I must have more "mommy time" more often. They have been playing a lot with their beanies babies on the picnic table daddy built for them out on the deck and running through the sprinklers in 60 degree weather and whatever else J hatches up.

Of course, having some new fabulous chalk doesn't hurt either. They are from
Little Flower Garden. The kids loves them.

Ultimate Camp resource

Today was yet another fun day. You can find lots of camp games/songs at ultimatecampresource . I wish I knew this before the start of the camp.

One of the games we played that the girls loved is little sally walker. This is a great game to get the girls loosened up and be a little silly and have lots of giggles. :)

Today was also field day so the older girls planned and supervised all the games. One of the games J loved was "nature tag" where a person is safe when they say and act out a word related to nature/animal, like tree/frog before they are tagged. The trick is no repeats. :)

There was also outdoor skills which the girls learned to how to safely use a pretend knife and various ways of tying knots and how to make a flame using a bandanna.

I don't have permission to post other girls' faces so just a few pictures to share.

walking up to the "capitol", a 15 minute hike in the morning and in the afternoon every day.

J is full of smiles.

Making new friends is so fun.

Girl Scott camp

In case you are wondering where we have been, we are ALL at Girl Scott camp. I'm one of the co-leaders for one of the 6 groups which consists of girls going into either 1st or 2nd grade. We have 13 girls in our unit, the RED ROSES. Prime is with the tots group as he is entering Kindergarten in the fall. They are called THE ASTRONAUTS. :)

The kids are having a really fun time. They have no problem waking up in the morning as they are very excited to go to camp. Prime might even have the most fun. I always see a crowd around him consisting mostly of younger boys the few chances I do get to see him.

J has been learning new songs, taking hikes, playing games ("what time is it Mr. Fox?" is the favorite game of all the girls) and doing crafts (designing their own leather tags with prints of their own choosing and pounding it in is a favorite). They have also been learning about "Leave No Trace" - taking care of our earth and animals/plants. She loves making new friends. Her favorite thing to do is making friendship bracelets for her friends. She is making them every chance she gets- right when she get up in the morning and right after she gets home. I don't even see them.

We are outside for 7 hours/days at camp but the weather has been beautiful and fairly mild. I'm doing little better today, as the 1st day I was super tired. Today is better but I still had a headache most of the day. This is probably an extension from the migraine headache I had all weekend.

The girls received a "Heroes in Our History" coloring booklet today. It is provided by the National Women's History Project and they are suppose to have a very good website at www.nwhp.org. I might have to look some of them up as I don't know any of the multicultural women on the list.

I hope to find my camera and take some pictures at camp tomorrow.

Messy day story

2 different kids, 2 different stories.

Rules: You answer a question. If you answer correctly, you can choose to have whip cream put on your face or you can put on staff's face. If you answer incorrectly, then you get the whip cream put on your face.

J's story


Daddy say J's smile is "pure joy" in this picture.



Prime's story


Oh!

Staff: Can I have the plate back?

What happened?



Real life: little boy takes losing very hard. He cried all the way home. His reason for crying, "I didn't like having whip cream put on my face."

Lesson to be learned: losing with grace/dignity. How to teach that? I have no idea.

making barbie cake

This is as much a "me learning" experience as it was for the kids. I had a really hard time, many frustrations, and wanted to throw in the towel many times.

But I guess in the end, I'm glad I didn't but I'm not sure I want to do it again. I suppose at least now I have most of the tools and know more or less what to do.

J did all the decorating, and had fun playing with Barbie's hair and of course tasting the icing. She was also a really good mixer. I didn't even need the electric mixer.

Decorating. I don't think I got quite the right tools; so many things to get. It was just crazy.



Little tasting.

Look at those pink hands! We all got them. Gloves might have been helpful.

Here she is. J gave all Barbie all the jewelry a girl could want, necklace, earring, bracelet, and ring. :)

Look who's turning 7?

Today is J is officially 7! I let her decide how she wants to spend the day. She actually just wanted to play at home and do her normal thing including attending a book discussion at the library. She did request some Timbits from Tim Hortons for breakfast.

A surprise of the day is a trip to Chuckie Cheese which is always a favorite of my kids. I had coupon for 20 free tokens so why not?

J's getting fancy. Instead of sitting next to Chuckie, she sits on the car. Is that a 7 years old thing?

The kids got cotton candy using their tickets.

J chilling out and doing a little building.

A surprise for mommy came in the mail- a box full of of a different variety of books courtesy of an old friend. Thanks, E! J loved these little blank notebooks so I gave them to her and guess what she immediately did? She colored a little bit (said the crayon didn't work well on the cover) and wrote down lyrics to like 5 or 6 Enki songs. She says she is trying not to forget them. I was moved. I thought the pretty cover was going to inspire her to do some flower drawing or something but guess that's not what she had in mind. Daddy says that's her "memory system". ;)

A birthday sundae. She'll have her cake and a little party on Sat. The plan is she will host her own party as on her hand made invitation, it says, "hosted by J". (kid you not.)

Happy Birthday, my sunshine! You are such a delight and just a sweet, sweet girl. Love you lots, mommy.